188. GRENFELL - On Individual versus Collective Responsibility
Read More"The Grenfell Inquiry blamed everyone for the tragedy that took 72 lives, but if everyone is responsible, is anyone responsible?"
187. SHOUT OUT TO CHILDLESS CAT PEOPLE - Why I Still Don't Want Kids
Read More"In the wake of this summer’s comments from Donald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, J.D. Vance, about ‘childless cat ladies’ (and as a US citizen who is registered to vote in November and will be voting for Kamala Harris…who actually does have step-children) I thought it might be worth reviewing the sound reasons for my own decision not to have children and defending the decision of others who have done likewise..."
186. TO LOVE AND HATE PHILOSOPHY - What is really needed to think deeply?
Read More"Philosophy is all about fine distinctions, and it is a fundamental error to conflate philosophy itself itself with its professional cousin. There is no logical reason the philosophy produced by a primary school student cannot reach conclusions just as profound and perception-changing as the philosophy produced by a professional academic."
185. THE TONE OF OUR OPPRESSION - On Why This Anarchist Votes
Read More“It is because I am an anarchist, that I will still be voting within a system I don’t believe in for whatever limited, but vital, changes I can bring within that system, to make life better for those it oppresses the most…“
184. NOT CONVINCED BY POLITICAL ARGUMENT - On the UK General Election 2024
Read More“We are changed in our political views when new ideas or arguments confront us in our every-day, non-political, life. Often these ‘arguments’ are experiential rather than logical: something seen, heard, witnessed or experienced first hand which have no formal logical structure but imprint some deep shift in values nevertheless. We change our minds because we are changed. Not because we are convinced by arguments.“
Association of Philosophy Teachers Annual Conference 2024: REPORT
Read MoreYesterday (June 14th) was a great day for teachers of Philosophy in secondary schools. Not only did SOAS release their Decolonising the Philosophy Curriculum Toolkit, but it was the 2nd annual conference of the Association of Philosophy Teachers (APT)…
183. I WATCHED EUROVISION - Does That Make Me a Bad Person?
Read More“As a self-identified punk since my teenage years, I am very used to feeling shame about watching the Eurovision Song Contest each year, and even hiding the fact from people who know me…“
182. MUCH TOO QUIET ON SET - Stepping on Eggshells as we All Work Under Capitalism
Read More“This is not just Hollywood stuff. This is not just the entertainment business. This is all work under capitalism.“
181. EXTREME LANGUAGE - Governmental Warning
Read More“The entire UK political system operates, arguably, on a mission to intentionally create a permissive environment for the perpetual violence of the state, for its intolerance of disorder and dissent, and for its hatred of alternatives.“
- A Note on The Changing Frequency Of Posts -
After many years of weekly posts every Monday during term-time at 6am, I have decided to ease up the pressure on myself to write something new each week just for the sake of it and, as of March 2024, will no longer be posting a new essay to PU every Monday morning.
There I was - a Sunday afternoon, void of ideas again, scratching my head in order to produce something, anything, for you readers to enjoy, when I realised a far better alternative might be to take Wittgenstein’s advice and simply not write anything at all: whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent.
Clues have abounded in recent titles - Burn It Down, Reaching Rock Bottom, Inferring the End… While writing to a deadline can be, and has been, energising and fun, I feel it can also eventually lead to a scraping of the bottom of the barrel of ideas just so that something is there to publish each week. Although I have endeavoured to maintain the quality of each post, I am finding myself publishing on here these days because I have set the deadline, rather than publishing because I have something that I really want to say.
I still intend to post on here regularly - just no longer every week. Sometimes it might be several times a week if inspiration strikes, other times I might be silent for months. Who knows? But after five years and 180 posts, with very few submissions from other writers to help ease the burden, I realise that my own sanity and happiness each weekend is worth more to me now than meeting a self-imposed deadline that I’m not convinced anyone even cares about but me.
180. WHAT PHILOSOPHY COULD BE - Breaking The Norms That Don't Have To Be Norms
Read More“Philosophy is difficult. But it is only as difficult as we choose to make it. Rigorous thinking does not have to be alienating. It does not have to speak a secretive and opaque language different from the way non-philosophers speak. That is a choice, not a necessity. Nor too should academic specialisation and disciplinary complexity be mistaken as necessary components of philosophy. Navel-gazing is still just navel-gazing, even when it props up an entire job market. So too is self-interested gatekeeping intended to preserve a questionable system rather than make it accessible to the masses.“
179. INFERRING THE END - Doom-Spiral or Fallacy?
Read More“We had seen the signs that things weren’t going well. That the wheels were falling off a bit. And we had made the inference - this place was going out of business. And the inference was right.“
178. FREE PALESTINE - On Anti-Semitism
Read More“As a Jew, I want to live in a world without anti-Semitism. I also want to live in a world with a free Palestine. These two ideas are not mutually exclusive, or in tension with each other. And we need to ask questions of motivation from those repeatedly peddling the myth that they are.”
- FEBRUARY HALF TERM 2024 -
Well that went fast! Just a five week half-term. But hopefully you enjoyed the handful of new PU posts you got in that short period and, if you’re missing your fix this week there’s not only our complete archive to look at, but I have a new paper out in the Journal of Philosophy of Education about why punishment in schools is unjustified. We’ll be back Monday February 19th with something new…
177. REACHING ROCK BOTTOM - Why England Needs to Sober Up
Read More“I guess what I am really doing is posing the following thought experiment: do you think a sober society would have sat by and done nothing for twenty-four years as their country failed to meet even the most basic standards of functioning anymore? And does the fact that England is not a sober society give us some explanation as to why the English have seemingly done exactly that?“
176. BURN IT DOWN - Why Elitist Institutions Can Never Be Inclusive
Read More“those who cling on to the old ways things were need more than an appeal to their personally liking the old standards to maintain them. They need to explain why keeping the bias, and the inequality and lack of inclusion those biased standards cause, is more important to them than making things better.“
175. SUING MADONNA - The Ethics of Honouring Stage Times
Read More“is Madonna’s late start really “unconscionable, unfair, and/or deceptive”? In philosophical terms: are such late start times, different from those advertised, genuinely immoral?“
174. THE TRAITORS AND EPISTEMOLOGY - Why We're All Floundering In The Dark About Knowledge
Read More“It is epistemically wild to watch how fellow human beings construct seemingly viable theories of knowledge out of the flimsiest of observations and inferences.“
- Christmas Break 2023 -
As the bloke from Slade says: ‘it’s Chriiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssstmas’ and that means I’m taking a long break to recharge after a big old year (new job, new book, new album) and will see you good people in the new year. Philosophy Unleashed will be back on Monday January 15th. Until then: enjoy the archives.
173. REGIFTING - What, If Anything, Does Our Unease With Regifting Tell Us About Ourselves?
Read More“I’ve got to be honest folks…I am exhausted. More than that - I’m ill.“